A member of the all-conquering Golden Eaglets squad to the maiden FIFA/ Kodak U-16  World Cup held 25 years ago in China, Babatunde Joseph has called for an improvement in the standard of the Nigerian league.

Speaking in an interview with Nigeria Premier League last weekend in Ibadan, the Okitipupa-born former footballer said the poor standard of the domestic league has contributed to the poor performance of the country’s national teams in international competitions.

According to him, the idea of prefering foreign based players to local based ones is not sending any positive signal about the Nigerian league, stressing that the development has been giving a lot of people particularly ex-players serious cause for concern.

“In those days, the standard of the league was so high. When you watch matches involving teams like Shooting Stars, Rangers International,  New Nigerian Bank and so on, you will be delighted with what you are bwatching.

“Now, the talk is about foreign leagues and it is  indeed heartbreaking to see the Nigerian league going down just like that.

“During our own time, we grew up knowing the likes of Segun Odegbami, Muda Lawal, Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala and the rest, but today, reverse is the case. Something must be done to put the situation under check,” argued the UK based Babatunde.

On how to improve the standard, he said this could be done by encouraging the players with lucrative offers which he added will stop the exodus of quality players from the local league to foreign clubs stating “Nigeria is blessed with good players, infact best footballers in the world are here in Nigeria.”